


Something Wrong

by Lightbulbs



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 07:04:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17720429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightbulbs/pseuds/Lightbulbs
Summary: "Something was wrong with Ringabel."Tiz notices Ringabel withdrawing. He isn't the only one.





	Something Wrong

Something was wrong with Ringabel.

True, he'd always been a strange guy. Too quick to flirt with women, too brash in his advances. For all that Tiz had done to get him to tone down his philandering, Ringabel was a total womanizer. His slavish affection for Edea was off-putting.

And yet. He also had a good heart, and a keen sense of justice. He was an enigma, but a friend.

When Ringabel started getting quieter, Tiz noticed. He noticed how Ringabel would pepper conversations with a little joke here or there, or a quick quip to drive Edea to annoyance. Agnès would frown and say, “Unacceptable!” and Edea would growl in frustration. But in the quiet moments, during the little slivers of time that reminded Tiz of the solitude he'd had while tending to his flock, Ringabel would look away with a pensive, faraway gaze.  

✦✦✦

After they’d run into Alternis Dim once again, Agnès pulled Tiz aside.

“I do not agree with how Ringabel approaches life. Particularly with how he approaches women.” Agnès frowned as she said this, probably thinking of the Bravo Bikini incident. “But he has… changed. Something is wrong.”

“We’ve all changed,” said Tiz reasonably. “We’ve all had our share of pain.”

“Truly,” said Agnès, “I understand how difficult it must be to go through life not knowing who you are. Or to see your face under an enemy’s helmet.” She shuddered. “Yes, Ringabel has had his share of pain.”

Tiz nodded. “So let’s give him space for now. Maybe it’s all just catching up to him.”

She sighed. “All right. Despite his flaws, I think of him as… family, of sorts.” She looked at Tiz with a shy smile. “Just like you.”

Tiz blushed. “I’ll keep watching him and make sure he’s okay.”

“And you… please look after yourself, as well.” Now a faint pink was tracing Agnès’s cheeks as well, giving her a quiet, rosy glow.

As Tiz looked away from Agnès in happy embarrassment, he noticed Ringabel standing just beyond their meeting spot, quietly leaning against a post and regarding the passersby.

~~~

“Okay, Ringabel, seriously. What’s wrong?”

Edea scowled, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Ringabel. Her forehead was wrinkled with annoyance. She’d stood up from her seat at the table in the Grandship’s dining area, her dinner plate still half-full. Tiz sipped on his drink, silently cheering Edea on.

“My dear, whatever do you mean? If anything, my heart aches at the thought of being without you on this cold night…”

“Yeah, your heart can just continuing aching, buddy.” Edea glowered. “But don’t change the subject! I know something’s wrong!” She strode up to him, pressing her finger into his chest.

Ringabel’s expression shifted. Emotion seemed to drain from it, leaching from his brows as his smile flattened. When the smile returned, it was wan and thin. “I appreciate your concern,” he said, taking her hand before gently pushing it away. Edea’s face reddened at the touch, and she seemed unsure of how to respond.

For a moment, all that could be heard was the quiet hum of the Grandship’s engines.

Then Ringabel laughed and said, “Oh, to have an angel worry about me! It breaks my heart to wound your own, and yet the thought gives me such cheer! You’re as lovely as ever, Edea.” He winked at her, then walked out the door.

Edea scowled at her stir-fry. Tiz knew how she felt.

♕♕♕

“You’ve noticed it, right?”

“Yes.”

Tiz returned from a trip to the item shop to find Edea and Agnès whispering conspiratorially. He cleared his throat, trying not to startle them, but Edea jumped all the same. Agnès flashed him a small smile.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Hm…” said Edea. She looked around, then nodded to herself. “Okay, so the thing is, I’m worried about Ringabel.”

Tiz set down the heavy item bag. “I am, too.”

“Right, of course you are,” said Edea. “You’re such a nice guy, Tiz.”

“Oh!” said Agnès, as if a little unnerved to hear Edea speaking of Tiz on such good terms. She glanced at him, and he felt the blush burn his cheeks. “That is, yes, we are _all_ worried about him.”

Edea wasn’t looking at them. Her gaze was somewhere else, as if she were combing her mental landscape for clues. “What do you think’s wrong?”

“I think…” said Tiz, trailing off, “I think that it started after we fought with Alternis Dim.”

“Hmm… Wait, you’re right!” Edea looked surprised. “That’s when he started pulling away from us. Maybe he’s worried that we’ll think of him as an enemy? What with him looking like Alternis Dim and all.”

“I’m not so sure,” murmured Tiz, but Edea plowed on.

“We’re not so black-and-white as to think that just ‘cause he looks like a Dark Knight, he _is_ one!” she said, pumping her fists. She’d stopped whispering at this point, her energy too high to contain. “Ringabel is—”

“Ringabel is what?”

All of them jumped when they turned around to see Ringabel standing behind them. They hurriedly talked of other things.

Tiz noticed how Ringabel’s smile never reached his eyes.

ℛℛℛ

“Feeling better, Ringabel?”

Tiz shivered in the cool night air, looking at the pale-faced man standing before him. Ringabel had collapsed in the Temple of Fire, sending Edea into a fits of worry. She was currently stress-eating parfaits, Agnès by her side. The only one who remained unconcerned was Airy, who acted as if Ringabel were little more than an inconvenience in their quest to reawaken the crystals.

Ringabel’s face was passive, almost stoic. It was so unlike the carefree adventurer he’d been just two worlds ago that Tiz couldn’t help but wonder if they’d lost their Ringabel somewhere along the way.

“Tiz, I… I remember everything now.”

“Your memory is back? That’s great news.”

_Maybe this will help Ringabel feel better_ , Tiz thought, wondering if he should invite Ringabel to come inside, to reassure Edea and joke with Agnès.

“I’m not so sure,” said Ringabel, and Tiz’s spirits immediately fell. “But at least it all makes sense now.”

“Will you tell me?”

✦~♕ℛ

Ringabel told him, and Tiz realized that something wasn’t _wrong_ with Ringabel. Something was becoming _right_.

Sometimes, the truth hurt. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be there, that _they_ couldn’t be there. Ringabel or Alternis, it didn’t matter.

They stood outside for a while in companionable silence, Tiz pondering over Ringabel's words. Finally, he looked at Ringabel and said, “Let's go inside before Edea dies from a parfait overdose.”

A ghost of a smile played on Ringabel's lips. “We certainly don't want that.”

They walked back inside to the warm and the light.


End file.
